I think everyday people who don't necessarily follow U2 find it difficult to differentiate between the three different roles that Bono probably adopts:
1. The arrogance and confidence of his onstage self
2. The good-natured, good-willed outlook of his charitable/political self
3. The Bono that his family know - I know nothing of what this is like, but I suspect it isn't like number 1
People, through ignorance or otherwise, probably find it hard to differentiate between 1 and 2 if they are not avid fans, and more so, are probably not even aware of 3.
There is overlap, of course. You see that everytime you go to a U2 concert where the performer incorporates the political.
For example, I don't like Bono much, but I would never doubt his charity work and always praise him for it.
However, prior to being a U2 fan, I just didn't like Bono much, end of.
It's only since becoming more aware of the lengths he does go to for his various charitable causes that I can stand back objectively and settle on the fact that while I might not like the performer, I like the politician (yeah, he's not a politician, but you get my drift).
People I speak to who dislike Bono are scarcely aware of much about him other than that he travels to Africa, spoke at the conference of some political party and was at Live Aid.
Enlightening them on other aspects of his charitable life surprised them greatly, and they agreed that they probably had misjudged him.
There's always ignorance - people who would still call Bono a selfish bastard even if he got Africa out of debt himself, but that's their problem. I have no time for people like that anyway.
